It has long been recognized that people tend to take more than enough paper from rolls of paper towelling or toilet tissue, especially when the roll is mounted on a spindle as part of a roll holder. The tendency is to pull at the end of the free sheet and to rip the material only when the individual feels that more than enough paper has unrolled from the roll. There is little or no thought about conserving the paper, especially when the paper is provided in a commercial establishment such as a service station or a hotel. Operators of such establishments have, for the most part, considered the substantial wastage of these paper products to be an expected expense, part of the cost of doing business.
It is clear that there could be savings that would be realized at the commercial level with a device that limits the amount of paper taken from a roll thereof. There are also substantial savings to be realized at the individual level. Many people live on fixed incomes, whether through social assistance, disability pensions or old-age pensions. Toilet tissue is a commodity that everyone must purchase and when the budget is tight one has to be very careful in controlling the usage of all commodities that are not renewable. If one can control the amount of sheet material pulled from a roll each time then one can more easily control the expense associated with that commodity.
There have been many attempts in the past at providing equipment or apparatus that will restrict or limit the amount of paper that can be removed from a roll of paper at one time. These attempts have involved the design of special roll holders or accessories that can be added to existing roll holders or the spindles thereof to limit the length of sheet material pulled from the roll. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,593 teaches a stop pin that restricts rotation of the roll by engaging a stop lug on the spindle. U.S. Pat. No. 2,540,436 uses a plate attached to the spindle, the plate having raised pyramids thereon that engage the end of the roll to stop its rotation when the roll is moved laterally against the plate while that paper material is being pulled from the roll. Canadian Patent No. 164,542 has a spring-biased spindle which, when the correct amount of paper has been pulled from the roll thereon, abuts a pin. The paper is torn from the roll and the spring causes the roll to reverse to a position whereat the end of the paper can be grasped for the next pulling movement. Canadian Patent No. 175,034 uses an eccentrically mounted spindle and an eccentric pin to control the length of paper torn from a roll. When paper is pulled from the roll the spindle rotates until the pin meets a stop and the controlled length is torn from the roll. Gravity causes the roll to rotate back to a rest position, ready for the next length to be pulled from the roll. There are many other patents showing devices for limiting the length of paper pulled from a roll, such devices acting on the end of the roll core, the end of the roll itself, or the outer surface of the roll.
The devices mentioned herein require a specific roll holder or spindle or require considerable modification to the roll holder in order to be effective. The installations are expensive and the mechanisms are complex. There is little to recommend these to the average commercial establishment or to the average homeowner, particularly one who is living on a fixed, minimum income.